Houghton’s Centurions football club is one year old this month. And it’s marking its first anniversary with a new ambition: to gain official status with the Football Association.

The village’s club has gone from zero to 52 members within a year, caters for both boys and girls, has sides for under sixes, sevens, eights and 10s, is building up an under-12 side, and has ambition for more senior teams in future. “It’s gone from strength to strength,” says co-founder Hamish Phillips. “It’s quite unbelievable.”

So the next step is to gain FA Charter Standard Accreditation.

It means that the club is meeting all the FA standards in coaching, training and welfare, and Hamish believes: “It will put us on a firm foundation. It’s good for parents and for children – they can see the club is being run in the right way.”

Accreditation can take three years to achieve, but he adds: “If something’s worth doing, do it properly.”

The village club was resurrected in October last year by Hamish and colleague Daniel Moses after they discovered there was a demand for it among youngsters.

“There was a football club here many years ago but it fizzled out,” he explains. “I was doing after-school clubs at the primary school on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and lot of the children said they had to go out of the village to play football.

“Now we’ve got 52 members and we’re growing all the time.”

Hamish coaches the under-10 side, which plays in the Penrith and District League, while the other teams play in the Carlisle Glass Longhorn League and are coached by Paul Turney.

The club trains on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday nights and is happy to welcome new members. For more details call 01228 528657.